ACL compiles a daily media monitoring service of stories of interest to the Christian constituency relating to children, family, drugs and alcohol, marriage, human rights, religious freedom etc. Visit the ACL’s website each day to see what’s of interest in the news. Please note that selection of the articles does not represent ACL endorsement of the content.

The Catholic Church wants the pain Easter symbolises not to be forgotten, for people to recall self-discipline and to find meaning in misfortune. The Anglicans will be told that no one can be paid to die in their place. And worshippers at Wesley Mission will be told to be more surprised. But in the most direct of this year's Easter messages, the NSW Moderator of the Uniting Church saw glimpses of the crucifixion in the skulduggery of federal politics. ''Why does this shocking waste continue?'' he asked. The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell, used his Easter message to warn of moral confusion and the dangers of uncontested selfishness. He warned against ''damaging nonsense'' that attempts to convince young people there are no sins.

The head of the Adelaide Anglican Church has questioned the behaviour of the country's political leaders, urging them to change their bickering ways. Archbishop Jeffrey Driver has used his Easter message today to remind all politicians to lead the nation openly, selflessly and with integrity. "Recent unsavoury battles over leadership in Canberra have done little to bolster trust in our political institutions," he said.

Big banks have been told they need a "reality check" and been criticised for making massive profits at the expense of customers and employees, in a key church leader's Easter message. Dr Philip Freier, Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, said Australia enjoyed a level of peace, stability, prosperity and equality that made it the envy of many countries in the world. However some major institutions and corporations needed a reality check.

Prominent Catholic Priest Father Bob Maguire says the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne has picked easy targets in his Easter message. Anglican Archbishop Dr Phillip Freier wrote his message in News Limited newspapers, hitting out at Australia's banks and the mining sector to share the wealth. Archbishop Freier says banks have failed to make an adequate case for increasing interest rates and cutting jobs when they have been posting big profits. Father Maguire told ABC News Breakfast he agrees with the sentiment, but the message could go further.

Church leaders have used their Easter messages to attack the nation's politicians for destroying good people and failing to uphold trust. Stuart Robinson, the Anglican bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, says social networking and the 24-7 news cycle have made us tired of our politicians. He says we're crying out for leaders who uphold our trust and faith in them.

Easter is the major feast of the Christian calendar, outranking Christmas. Why? Because it recapitulates the saga that on Good Friday Jesus Christ redeemed the world by dying on the cross and that on the third day, Easter Sunday, he rose from the dead. St Paul, who got Christianity established as a religion, said: ''If Christ be not risen our faith is vain.'' Easter is therefore an appropriate time to ponder the fact that these days Christianity is not just ''a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles'', again to cite Paul. It has always had a good chance of coming across like that to most people, believers and unbelievers, at least some of the time.

Many children grow up without learning the Easter story, but that offers a new opportunity, says the leader of the Anglican Church in Tasmania. Bishop John Harrower spent time at home yesterday finishing off his sermons for Easter. "Churches are engaging with different groups of people now," Bishop Harrower said. "I think there's a generation coming up who haven't heard the Easter message.